Monthly Report: August Singles
1. Ciara - "Speechless"
I didn't feel much of anything about Ciara doing a whole album written by The-Dream, although both have made songs I love I generally don't hold either in especially high regard, and I really really hated the semi-flop lead single "Ride." But man, this is pretty damn good.
2. John Mayer f/ Taylor Swift - “Half Of My Heart”
A few months ago in reference to “Heartbreak Warfare” I wrote: “Mayer usually gets me with one single per album, and I guess this is the one this time.” But I was wrong, because here’s another. It’s really a shame that Mayer’s been dropping some of his most emotionally affecting singles to date in a year when his public persona is all about saying goofy or embarrassing things and apologizing about them. Also as far as MOR balladeers go, Mayer writes way better songs than Swift.
3. David Guetta and Chris Willis f/ Fergie and LMFAO - "Getting Over You"
Amazingly LMFAO are the only people on this song that make me embarrassed about enjoying it or who I really wish didn't have careers right now, mainly because I loved "I Gotta Feeling" and I have no idea who Chris Willis is. But yeah, this is fun.
4. Trey Songz - “Already Taken”
Trey's had so many singles out in the last few months, from Ready leading right into the new album as well as guest spots, and when I interviewed him a few weeks ago I made a point to tell him that my favorite is this one from the last Step Up movie and I was pretty bummed at how it got totally got lost in the shuffle. This is a sweet little song with one of the more gentle, tuneful Polow Da Don productions in recent memory, and Trey gets his terrible “YUP” and "C'MON" ad libs (the latter of which I thought was "C'MERE" until Trey corrected me) out of the way right at the beginning of the song so that he can actually sing for the rest of it.
5. T-Pain f/ Rick Ross - "Rap Song"
It wasn't that long ago that it seemed like the entire pop music universe revolved around T-Pain, but "Blame It" aside the last 2 years have felt like one misstep after another, from the disappointing Thr33 Ringz and a lot of forgettable hooks to the terrible way he handled the Jay-Z "Death Of AutoTune" situation and him pretending to not release his latest album as a protest of low music sales after the first couple attempts at singles flopped. I hope this one takes off, though, this is the best thing he's done in a while.